Chapter 11

Cora sat waiting in a bile-green plastic chair in the hallway of the psych ward, dismayed that she knew the routine already. At least they’d removed her bindings, let her walk around. But would they let her out? Did the doctors think she was sane? Or not?

The clock on the wall clicked toward noon, which meant her forty-eight hours were almost up.

A woman shuffled in front of her, heading toward her room, grey hair covering her face, her arms and hands bent and curled into her body. She didn’t speak.

Others did, though. Behind Cora in the ‘recreation room,’ twelve or so women sat quietly watching Real Housewives of Atlanta. Although an occasional cackle or scream made Cora jump, the nurses and doctors walking through the halls didn’t even seem to notice.

“Hamilton.” The nurse in the intake cage called Coralie’s name in a weary tone. Cora shot to her feet and shuffled over. Her muscles still screamed from the exertion of two days ago, and her face was killing her.

The nurse pushed a wrapped bundle through the little window at Cora. “Go in the bathroom and change. Your ride is here.”

Cora snatched up her clothes. She wasn’t going to argue, although she’d been told nothing, and couldn’t imagine who had come to get her.

Putting on her own clothes was a surreal experience. The bright colors and flowing fabrics of her blouse and batik skirt made her feel too loud and conspicuous, like if they noticed her, they would realize they were making a mistake. Fully dressed, she ran back out to the intake cage, which hulked next to the double doors that signified freedom. The nurse held up a finger, while she buzzed the doors open. Two male security guards stood on either side, their arms folded, their gazes bored but hostile.

The double doors opened to reveal four people on the other side. No one Cora knew. A nurse and an older couple were standing alongside a younger woman in a wheelchair. She was wearing an unkempt pastel hospital-issue gown that hung off shoulders so firm with muscles Cora was startled. This woman looked like she belonged in a bodybuilding competition, not curled into a wheelchair, trying to make her body disappear from view. Her eyes were haunted and weary, with dark circles underneath. Cora’s heart went out to her.

The older woman patted the one in the wheelchair. Her daughter? “Now don’t you worry, Jinelle. They’re gonna take real good care of you and I’ll visit every day. Come on, let’s get you settled in your room.”

Jinelle looked practically catatonic. Not even her eyes moved as they pushed her through the doors and down the hallway. But seconds after the door to her room closed Cora heard yelling. The commotion sent two more nurses rushing down the hall to help. As they opened the door a hoarse female voice screeched, the words hard to make out. Something about bankers and blood and license and registration.

Cora turned back to the nurse, her mouth dry. Her turn? She smiled when the nurse waved her over, then spoke the words that popped in her brain. “Every nurse here deserves a month’s vacation on a tropical island with their own personal servants.”

That got her a surprised hint of a smile. “Amen and pass the daiquiris.” She shook herself and her voice went cold. “Your outtake starts now. Dr. Momeyer is right through that door.”

Cora had only seen the psychiatrist on staff once in her observational stay. He was a short man with black, plastic rimmed glasses and a full but meticulously-trimmed beard. He stood and waved her back outside his cramped office when she entered. “Ms. Hamilton, excellent. Walk with me.” He stepped into the hall, file in hand, his face stony. “Clean bill of health. I’ve signed your paperwork; you’re free to go. You’ll get a court date in the mail for your charges.”

Cora hurried to keep up with his long strides away from the door. “I don’t understand. I mean, I’m glad I’m cleared, but I tried to kill that guy and I don’t know why. You never told me what was wrong with me.”

Dr. Momeyer waved off her concerns. “You went into a fugue state. It happens in times of stress. Your tox report was clean, you aren’t insane, so we have no reason to hold you.”

The days had given Cora a distance from her anger, making it hazy, hard to remember. “But I’m not under any great stress, except for my tenure hearing. What if it happens again? What if I’m in the middle of a class and I attack a student?”

The patronizing frown that accompanied his next words made Cora want to shove those Millennial-wannabe glasses right down his scruffy throat. “Then you probably won’t get tenure. Anyway, I don’t think you need to worry about that. You haven’t had any symptoms since you arrived.” Momeyer stopped and turned to face Cora, an indulgent expression on his face. “We only treat sick people here.”

Cora stared in disbelief as he started down the hallway again, but pointed her in the opposite direction, back the way they’d come. “The nurses will have numbers for some therapists. Be sure to make an appointment.”

Then he turned the corner and was gone. Cora stared after him, her mouth working soundlessly. She was sick. She’d tried to kill someone…

***

Twenty minutes later Cora made it out the doors to freedom. Unceremoniously dumped straight into the waiting room, blinking, looking around for her aforementioned ride.

“Lynessa,” she groaned in relief when she saw her friend. Her best friend, waiting with a sympathetic smile on her face and a cup of coffee in each hand.

Lynessa worked at Shady Pines as an assistant registrar, otherwise known as The Ones Who Keep Shit Running. She had strawberry-blonde hair, wore no makeup, and always braided her hair so she didn’t have to brush it. Cora’d never been so comfortable with anyone in her life as she was with Lynessa, even if the woman did have an ass that made Cora want to tie her down and force-feed her pork rinds just to even the playing field. Girlfriend could do a hundred squats without once crying for her mama.

Concern shone from Lynessa’s eyes, deep and genuine, then she winced when Cora got close. “Oh my god, Cora. I knew you must have had a good reason for standing me up Thursday, but girl, this is beyond messed up. I’ve been worried about you ever since they called me. Are you okay? Who the fuck gave you those black eyes?”

Embarrassingly close to tears, Cora nodded as she shuffled into her friend’s arms for a long hug.

Cora hadn’t had a steady boyfriend in over two years and she had made sure to move hours away from her parents as soon as she finished her undergrad degree. It made sense that Lynessa had been on her emergency contact forms at work, but that meant work knew already. Oh man, she was probably already fired. Homeless was next.

She gratefully accepted what comfort Lynessa offered, hugging her around the coffee cups and trying not to touch Lynessa with her poor face. “I’m a latté better now.” Some people ate when they got flustered. Cora made up horrible puns.

Lynessa groaned, but Cora couldn’t even smile. Her whole body felt heavy, like she’d been filled with cement from toes to nose. Maybe she’d had an infarction. Cora didn’t know what that was, exactly, but it sounded the way she felt.

Lynessa turned and aimed them both for the exit, her arm tightening around Cora’s shoulder as they walked. “Come on, babe. I’m springing you from this joint.”

They didn’t speak until they were out of the hospital and inside Lynessa’s sporty white Subaru. Lynessa broke the silence “You want to go to your car or home?”

Cora considered. She would get her car later, didn’t want to see the college until she could handle it. “Home.”

Lynessa took the next turn. “The cops called work Friday, and so did the hospital, but I took both calls and gave them my personal number. No one else should know.”

Cora slumped in her seat, taking a sip of lukewarm coffee as she contemplated how much she appreciated her friend. But would Lynessa’s efforts be enough? “Thank you.”

Nessa shrugged it off. “You would have done the same. Anyway, what the hell happened? Word around campus is you went rogue and tried to stab a visitor with a pen?”

Coralie had been over the incident in her mind a thousand times but was no closer to making sense of it than she had been in the moments afterwards. “That pretty much covers it. Except he wasn’t just a visitor, he was a city councilman.”

Nessa slammed the stick into fifth gear and merged between two trucks with only feet to spare. One laid on his horn and Nessa laughed, blowing a kiss. “Why, though? What’d he do?”

Cora shrugged, holding on to her coffee for dear life. Why did the seatbelts in Nessa’s car never feel snug enough? “Nothing at all. Never saw the guy before in my life.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. You just saw the guy and, boom?”

Cora took a moment to remember the sensations. “I felt something before I even saw him. Like, I wouldn’t have looked over but something pulled me. You know what I mean?”

Lynessa gave Cora her deepest side-eye and shrugged awkwardly. Cora didn’t know if that meant yes or no.

Cora covered her face with her hands and groaned. “I don’t know why I did it. I remember hunting through my purse for something to stab him with at the same time I was hoping someone would stop me. It doesn’t make any damn sense.”

Lynessa didn’t say anything for a few moments. “You missed a meet for it.”

Shit. She hadn’t even thought about that. While in the psych ward, her life had somehow been whittled down to only two things. Freedom versus imprisonment. “Who won?”

Lynessa rolled her eyes as she merged onto the highway and floored the gas pedal. “Same people who always win when we’re not around: the Whitakers.”

Cora and Lynessa had been a parkour duo for a few years now, taking part in casual meets anywhere in driving distance. What had started as a fun way to stay fit had become an active passion for them both. It was the second reason that Lynessa was her bestie.

The momentum of the vehicle Nessa was manhandling pressed Cora against the seat. She didn’t fight it. Twenty minutes later they were outside her house, the sight of the riotous cottage garden lifting her spirits as it always did. Her friend cut the engine. “I’m coming in.”

Ordinarily Cora would be fine with her friend’s brashness, but this time she wasn’t. She wanted to be alone.

Nessa reached to the backseat and brought forth a long package. “I knew you wouldn’t want to go to your car so I got this out of it.”

She’d been trying to cheer Cora up, and Cora appreciated it. It wouldn’t work though. She frowned.

Lynessa cajoled her. She knew Cora had a tendency to wallow and needed help not to do it or she would get depressed. Her eyes twinkled as she elbowed Cora. “You’ve known what’s inside this for days, and you never even texted me. You owe me.”

Cora smirked. “Okay, bring your big bully ass inside.”

Lynessa nodded. “That’s what I thought.”